PROPOSAL FOR THE INCLUSION OF TOP PREDATOR STUDIES IN SO-GLOBEC POLARSTERN CRUISE ANT XVIII-5

SO-GLOBEC winter krill studies
Antarctic Peninsula site
Bellingshausen Sea, Marguerite Bay, May 2001

J.A. van Franeker
ALTERRA (formerly IBN-DLO)
PO Box 167
1790 AD Den Burg (Texel)
The Netherlands
tel. +31-222-369724
fax +31-222-319235
email: J.A.vanFraneker@ibn.dlo.nl

5/11/1999

General considerations on Antarctic top predator studies

Antarctic seabirds and mammals are not uniformly distributed over the Southern Ocean. Spatial, seasonal and other variability in the environment results in strong and rapid responses in the ecosystem up to the highest trophic level. Distribution, abundance and community-structure of top predators reflect underlying physical, chemical and biological processes in the ocean. Such links are present from the very fine to very large scale and studying these in an interdisciplinary framework serves a number of scientific and practical objectives: